Low Tuck Kwong Saves the Animals

Walking through his privately owned zoo in Kalimantan, billionaire Low Tuck Kwong stops by a cage containing a white cockatoo. “Assalamu alaikum,” says Low to the bird, to which it gives a boisterous reply. Low then moves to other cages with turtle doves, pigeons, birds of paradise and cassowaries. In one cage 50 peacocks are showing off their shimmering blue-green wings. “These are my favorites,” says Low.

In another part of the zoo there are a dozen orangutans enjoying some pineapple, watermelon and banana. Some baby orangutans are drinking milk while clinging to a tree. There is also a large cage for a Sumatra tiger that gave birth five months ago to a pair of cubs. Wearing large plastic gloves for protection, Low takes one of the cubs into his arms, while his daughter takes the other one.

Low’s Gunung Bayan Zoo is situated in Muara Tae, about 45 minutes by helicopter from Balikpapan, near Low’s coal mining company, Bayan Resources, the main source of Low’s wealth.

Low has long loved animals. In the 1980s he went often to special markets in Jakarta that sell wildlife, looking for birds, fishes or other animals to buy. Then in 1996 Bayan had a problem–it started receiving wild animals caught near its mine, a common problem in Indonesia as logging, plantations, mining and expanding populations erode the forests, forcing the animals to developed areas, where often they are killed or sold to traders (see below).

Low insisted on taking care of these outcasts, and a menagerie slowly grew into a full-blown zoo. Low also created an educational center to discourage the wildlife trade. Gunung Bayan opens its zoo to the public on holidays with no entrance fee. In peak periods it may have 6,000 visitors a day.

When first started the zoo was criticized by animal activists. There are over 750 animals in the 15-hectare zoo. Most of them are not protected, but some are. These are registered with the government’s Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA), which permits Low to keep them.

Low is not the only entrepreneur who loves animals. Tycoon Irwan Hidayat, owner of the country’s largest herbal medicine company, PT Sido Muncul, also owns a mini-zoo, which started out with a tiger given to him by some colleagues. Both the mini-zoo and a botanical garden are free and open to the public in Semarang. And Hashim Djojohadikusumo (No. 42 on our Indonesia 50 Richest list) was appointed last June as head of supervision at Ragunan Zoo by vice governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. Hashim, who is also a conservationist, will supervise zoo management.

While Low doesn’t discuss his investment in the zoo, FORBES INDONESIA estimates it may have cost over Rp 10 billion ($875,000). Besides the zoo, Low also has a fish farm, which he started in 2004. It is situated about ten minutes from the zoo by helicopter and has 40 ponds holding some 10,000 arowana, which are highly prized ornamental fish believed to bring good fortune to the owners. “This fish farm is my idea,” says Low. Some of the fish are for sale in Singapore, while others are given as gifts in Indonesia.

(Corrections: In an earlier version we stated in the last paragraph that the 40 ponds hold 1,000 arowana, and that they were not endangered; we also said that the farm is strictly a for-profit business.)

OUT OF THE WOODS AND INTO THE CAGE

Private zoos such as the one owned by Low are controversial. Ian Singleton, an activist with the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, says such zoos exist only because of the loss of animals’ habitat due to the destruction of the rainforest for plantations, mining or logging. “A few lucky survivors who are captured and kept as pets are refugees from a forest that no longer exists,” says Ian. In order to protect the orangutans (and other wildlife), Ian urges the government to enforce the law on conserving animals and maintain standards for cleanliness, nutrition and minimum cage sizes.

While Low’s zoo is well maintained, many others, both public and private, are in deplorable condition. The zoo in Surabaya, the second-largest city in Indonesia, has earned the nickname the “zoo of death.” The tradition of individuals keeping exotic animals as pets, even endangered wildlife, such as orangutans, is widespread. A vocational school in Malang adopted and raised a Bengal tiger cub until it became so big it was a threat to the students, and now the adult tiger is kept nearby in a special enclosure by the school’s owner. –G.H.

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